Ikuko Kawai

Ikuko Kawai, violinist and composer
Birthplace: Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan. Graduated from the department and completed the graduate course at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Currently, Professor at Osaka University of the Arts (the department of music).
Ikuko Kawai is a violinist and composer, who combines theatrical art techniques with distinguished creativity. Her stage is an unprecedented and dramatic mixture of violin and other genres of stage performance. In addition to Kawai’s excellent works in the classic field, her talent allows her to establish the original sense of music by incorporating various types of music.
Kawai has not only performed with famous orchestras in Japan but made an internationally splendid performance with Warasaw Philharmonic Orchestra and a world-renowned conductor Chung Myung-Whim.
Besides, she has performed with artists of different genres such as Sheila E., Gypsy Kings and other pop artists, and also with Shizuka Arakawa, Gold-Medal figure skater at Torino Olympics. Yet, it was when a figure skater Michelle Kwan skated to Kawai’s piece of music “Red Violin” and became the worldwide champion that Kawai’s name became well-known.
With [her] top CD sales in the domestic market and [her] regular appearances in TV programs, Kawai has become a truly incomparable artist in Japan.
She has done the first concert in Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall on October 4, 2008.
Official Website: http://www.ikukokawai.com/
Vistor Entertainment: http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/-/Artist/A014783.html

Ikuko Kawai